Every time I come across a book I want to read, I automatically add it to my Amazon cart. However, I am not always the bests at buying them. I thought I would make a running list of all the books I plan to read!  Below is my book wish list with a quick summary from Amazon. If you have other recommendations I would love to add them!  I would love for this to be a live blog post that is constantly updating! 

• The Ideal Team Player – Patrick Lencioni
  

  “Lencioni presents a practical framework and actionable tools for identifying, hiring, and developing ideal team players.  Whether you’re a leader trying to create a culture around teamwork, a staffing professional looking to hire real team players, or a team player wanting to improve yourself, this book will prove to be as useful as it is compelling”

• The Culture Code – Daniel Coyle
  

  “Culture is not something you are—it’s something you do. The Culture Code puts the power in your hands. No matter the size of your group or your goal, this book can teach you the principles of cultural chemistry that transform individuals into teams that can accomplish amazing things together”

• Instructional Rounds in Education: A Network Approach to Improving Teaching and Learning – Elizabeth A. City 

  “Inspired by the medical-rounds model used by physicians, the authors have pioneered a new form of professional learning known as instructional rounds networks. Through this process, educators develop a shared practice of observing, discussing, and analyzing learning and teaching.”

• When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing – Daniel Pink
  

  “Drawing on a rich trove of research from psychology, biology, and economics, Pink reveals how best to live, work, and succeed. How can we use the hidden patterns of the day to build the ideal schedule? Why do certain breaks dramatically improve student test scores? How can we turn a stumbling beginning into a fresh start? Why should we avoid going to the hospital in the afternoon? Why is singing in time with other people as good for you as exercise? And what is the ideal time to quit a job, switch careers, or get married?”

• The Behavior Code: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Teaching the Most Challenging Students – Jessica Minahan and Nancy Rappaport 

  “Based on a collaboration dating back nearly a decade, the authors—a behavioral analyst and a child psychiatrist—reveal their systematic approach for deciphering causes and patterns of difficult behaviors and how to match them with proven strategies for getting students back on track to learn”

• The Behavior Code Companion: Strategies, Tools, and Interventions for Supporting Students with Anxiety-Related or Oppositional Behaviors – Jessica Minahan and Nancy Rappaport

  “Minahan takes readers step-by-step through the process of understanding and practicing the components of a FAIR behavior intervention plan so that they or a team can immediately customize it and put it to work in classrooms. Additional tips on creating interventions, as well as checklists to help with implementation and monitoring progress, are also included”

• Teaching Girls: How Teachers and Parents Can Reach Their Brains and Hearts – Peter Kuriloff

  “This unique book reveals the kinds of teaching that engages girls intellectually, fosters their creativity, and bolsters their confidence. Drawing on descriptions of great lessons written by nearly 2,000 students and teachers, it offers a practical, accessible guide to anyone who wants to find better ways to help young women succeed.”

• The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas
  

  “Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed”

   

• Multiplication Is for White People: Raising Expectations for Other People’s Children– Lisa Delpit

“In chapters covering primary, middle, and high school, as well as college, Delpit concludes that it’s not that difficult to explain the persistence of the achievement gap. In her wonderful trademark style, punctuated with telling classroom anecdotes and informed by time spent at dozens of schools across the country, Delpit outlines an inspiring and uplifting blueprint for raising expectations for other people’s children, based on the simple premise that multiplication—and every aspect of advanced education—is for everyone.”

• Enough as She is – Rachel Simmons

“From the New York Times bestselling author of Odd Girl Out, a deeply urgent book that gives adults the tools to help girls in high school and college reject “supergirl” pressure, overcome a toxic stress culture, and become resilient adults with healthy, happy, and fulfilling lives”

• Radical Candor– Kim Scott

“Radical Candor offers a guide to those bewildered or exhausted by management, written for bosses and those who manage bosses. Taken from years of the author’s experience, and distilled clearly giving actionable lessons to the reader; it shows managers how to be successful while retaining their humanity, finding meaning in their job, and creating an environment where people both love their work and their colleagues”

• The Founder’s Mentality – Chris Zook

“The key insight from Zook and Allen’s research is that managing these choke points requires a “founder’s mentality”– behaviors typically embodied by a bold, ambitious founder–to restore the speed, focus, and connection to customers, all of which are lost as companies grow:

• An insurgent’s clear mission and purpose
• An unambiguous owner mindset
• A relentless obsession with the front line”

• Smarter Faster Better: The Transformative Power of Real Productivity– Charles Duhigg

“At the core of Smarter Faster Better are eight key productivity concepts—from motivation and goal setting to focus and decision making—that explain why some people and companies get so much done. Drawing on the latest findings in neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral economics—as well as the experiences of CEOs, educational reformers, four-star generals, FBI agents, airplane pilots, and Broadway songwriters—this painstakingly researched book explains that the most productive people, companies, and organizations don’t merely act differently.”

• Ego is the Enemy– Ryan Holiday
• The Servant: A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership– James Hunter
• Teaming: How Organizations Learn, Innovate, and Compete in the Knowledge Economy – Amy Edmondson
• Creating Effective Teams: A Guide for Members and Leaders-  Susan Wheelan

• Some More Summer Reading Suggestions from the Admissions Leadership Council (ALC) 

Presented about using Socratic Seminars at NCAIS (North Carolina Association of Independent Schools). Below are my slides and previous blog posts!

• Socratic Seminar in Geometry!
• Socratic Seminars for Math Review

This summer, I have been preparing for a year of a lot of change.

• Changing Geometry Curriculum to CPM
• Changing Algebra 2 curriculum to CPM
• Changing Algebra 2 to SBG
• Starting graduate school at UPenn

I have been thinking about these changes non-stop for the past three months. I have gone through multiple days of training for CPM, worked through multiple chapters for each curriculum,  created standards and assessments for Algebra 2, started grad school work, and attended multiple workshops and conferences.  I am now two weeks from the school year officially starting and I’m nervous and uncomfortable. This is extremely unlike me. I love to be busy and jumping right in. It has been great having summer to prepare and get ahead for this year, I feel prepared but oddly not. This year is full of unkowns. The unknown has typically never bothered me. I strive in it. I had no idea what was causing these feelings.

I realized at TMC why I was feeling this way. I was talking to a few friends when I realized that I want to do everything but doing everything is impossible. The idea of not being able to do everything is what makes me nervous and uncomfortable. This year is going to be a lot of change and I am truly excited for that. However, I can’t possibly do everything I want to do.

I want to blog about everything. This probably won’t happen. I have about 4 ideas for blog posts just about TMC17 alone but making blogging a priority seems impossible right now.

I want to participate in #geomchat #alg2chat #MTBoSNC #MTBoS #ElonEd and every other chat as much as possible. This year I may just lurk.

I want to learn and use Desmos computational layer. I still really want to do this.

I want to speak at as many conferences as possible (speaking at 2 already) and share as much as I can.

I want to bring everything I learned from TMC back to my classroom and use it every day. (I just have SO MANY TMC1THINGS)

I know that during this year, a lot of things I want to do may take a backseat. I know I can’t do everything even if I really want to. It’s impossible.

So instead of thinking about all the things I won’t be able to do this year, I am going to reframe my mindset.

I‘m going to be the best teacher, advisor, coworker, student I can be. 

If the things I want to do fall into this category then awesome. It’s impossible to everything, but I can do the best I can.

-Sorry for rambling-

Finally! Starting week one of the #MTBoS Blogging Initiative, “My Favorite”!  You should definitely check it out if you would like some blogging inspiration!  It is only four posts and it’s not too late to join in!

For my favorite, I wanted to share SeeSaw.  SeeSaw is an app that allows students to upload videos/pictures/drawings/links to a class page.  Students can share these with other students or onto their individual file.

I have used Seesaw as a teacher and as a coach.

It is really easy for students to join. They have to download the app and sign in as a student. There is no log-in required (they can for multiple classes) and they just have to scan a QR code to join.

I have used SeeSaw for reviews in class. Every student received a problem that was on the review.  They were to become an “expert” on that one problem. Once they were experts, they made a video of themselves explaining the problem. This was great. Students were explaining problems in their own words which required them to really think about the problem. Once they finished, they uploaded their video to Seesaw for the entire class to see.  After all the videos were posted, students received the entire review. 

Students could use the videos if they had questions when studying. There were multiple videos for each problem, so this also offered students the chance to hear problems explained differently.

I coach cheerleading, and Seesaw has been a great tool. I take videos of chants and routines during practices/games and upload them to Seesaw. We also add formations and notes onto the page for everyone to see and use. Students can also post videos of cheers that they want to learn on the page.

One of the best features is that you can share it with parents. Parents receive a code that allows them to see their child’s work and anything shared to their folder! It’s a great way to engage parents and let them know what’s going on!

Hope you enjoyed my favorite SeeSaw. !! If you have any questions feel free to ask!

What makes Twitter Math Camp so special? You’re going to a conference that’s referred to as a camp? Wouldn’t more official conferences give you more PD? You’re going to a conference about twitter? One year ago, when Julie Reulbach first told me about TMC, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Although I had been on Twitter for professional purposes I had NO idea how many math teachers were on Twitter. I definitely didn’t know about #MTBoS.

Over the past year, I started blogging and connecting with other teachers via twitter and started to realize what Julie was talking about. I started making connections with educators who lived all around the world that had the same passions as me. I was tweeting with teachers who were influential in the math education world, but also teachers who were just starting out like me.

I was a little nervous heading all the way to Minnesota to meet a bunch of people who I’ve only interacted with on Twitter. I’ve been hearing about Twitter Math Camp, and I had extremely high expectations. I was afraid that TMC wouldn’t live up to the hype. Let me tell you… it exceeded all of my expectations.

Now, what made TMC different from other math conferences?

AMAZING Sessions

The teachers who attend TMC are teachers who are innovative and extremely involved and committed to changing math education. They are evangelists. All of the presenters are part of the community of #MTBoS. Their presentations are interactive and provide teachers with information and content that they can bring back to apply directly into their teaching.

TMC teachers were also given the opportunity to have a Pre-Conference with Desmos. New features of this amazing calculator are presented to these teachers. These teachers don’t only love new features but love to share what they’ve found.

The Schedule

TMC is organized in a way that allows teachers to truly take the most out of the conference

• 9:00- 9:30 Morning Opening and My Favorites: My favorites is a time for teachers who did not want to do an hour long session/found something cool to share a chance to share with the entire TMC community for 5-10 minutes. My favorites were accepted through out the week and open to ANYONE at the conference.
• 9:30 – 11:30 Morning Sessions: On the morning of the first day, you got to choose a morning session that you would attend every morning for three days. I chose “Talk Less, Smile More” Given by Mattie and Chris Luz  (Blog post to come). This 6-hour session inspired me to change the entire design and culture of my classroom. This session provided me enough time to truly learn about debating math in my classroom.   We were also able to work on things to implement into our classes during this session. I loved having a focus for three days.
• 11:30 – 1:00 pm: Lunch: During lunch, we look over restaurants, and talked casually about our morning sessions. This is also a chance to catch up with people who we’ve only interacted with on Twitter.
• 1:00- 1:30: AGAIN My Favorites: GIVING MORE TEACHERS A CHANCE TO PRESENT.
• 1:30- 2:30: Keynote Speaker: Daily motivational presentations that left educators in tears by the end. Have you ever been to a conference where you felt so inspired you cried?
• 2:45- 3:45: Afternoon Sessions: There were about 12 sessions to choose from every day. These sessions were pre-approved before the conference.
• 4:00-5:00: Flex Sessions: Flex sessions were an extremely cool idea. During the week many people found a common interest and they wanted to know more about it. Flex sessions were a chance for people who were not approved for the afternoon sessions to present. Anyone could present during the Flex sessions.

THREE whole days of Math!

Although the conference technically ended at 5:00 the learning and bonding didn’t stop. At dinner, drinks, 12 am in our rooms the conversations never stopped. There was never an “end” to the conference. Oh, and I did I mention we all stayed in dorm rooms together? I probably only slept about 5 hours a night…

The Community.

 I honestly don’t know how to describe how amazing the community is at TMC. Everyone is extremely welcoming and willing and eager to share any resources and advice with you. I ‘ve never been to a place where it was perfectly normal to go and stand next to a group of people you’ve never met (or idolized) and they welcome you in with open arms to the conversation. I felt that I was connected with plenty of teachers on Twitter, but now I have an even wider network. I know that I can talk to any of the presenters even though the conference is over.

This conference focuses on building relationships and support within the math community. We all went out to dinner together one night where we took up half the restaurant. We also had a Trivia Night ( my team won btw ) where we broke out in song between every round.

We even created a TMC song where we choreographed dances, wrote lyrics, and played instruments (and Desmos Graphs) to represent our few days at this amazing conference. Truly a camp experience

I’ve learned so much at this conference about teaching, math, and myself. The more I learn; I realize that I know nothing. TMC is a conference where the learning never stops. You don’t dread being in sessions and you feel connected to the speaker. I’m part of a community where I can constantly learn and grow.

See everyone again on July 27-30 in Atlanta. Until then I’ll see you on Twitter. 🙂

To say the least, teaching is exhausting. When I first started in August, I have never been so tired in my entire life. I was climbing into bed before 8 pm! I also started to feel my tension from work in my shoulders, neck, and hips. I typically don’t get stressed, but I could feel the tension taking over my body.

In November, I started taking hot yoga at Yoga One. I’ve practiced yoga a few times before, but my colleagues convinced me to start going with them at 6 am twice a week before heading in for the day. Soon I become a full on yogi practicing every day. My practice became more than a way to exercise but a way of life. Especially within the past month, I have realized how much my practice has affected my teaching.

Getting practice in at 6 am is killer. I am not a morning person, so this only ends up happening once or twice a week. However, when I am able to commit to practice in the morning I start my day energized, positive, and productive.  Starting your day on a good note is SO important for a teacher. I also realized I am more patient with my students when practicing in the morning.

Most days I do not make the 6 am practice and end up going after work. This time on my mat after work has turned some of my worst days completely around. We are taught to breath into the spots of our body where we hold tension. When we breathe out, our problems are supposed to go out with it. I know it sounds crazy, but I have learned to direct my breath to places of tension especially my shoulders. No matter how bad the day, I always leave my hour practice feeling better about a situation. This has helped me get rid of anger for a disrespectful student, the feeling of failure for a student I couldn’t help, and anger for a colleague who has views different from mine. The tension in my shoulders, neck and hips are also gone. It’s helped me realize that I shouldn’t take things personally and every day is a new start. It has become my release. 

Learning to breathe has also helped my patience in class. When teaching high schoolers, it is really easy to become frustrated. Once I learned how to control my breathing, I stopped becoming frustrated and created a more welcoming class environment.

Yoga has also helped me inspire and motivate my students. I am constantly listening to my teachers and trying to improve. Yoga teachers are constantly trying to motivate their classes, and a lot of what they say relates to teaching.

“Every practice is a different experience” This holds true in the classroom. No matter how bad the day, the next day is a brand new start. I use this in my teaching, but also to motivate my students. Every day they have a chance to succeed. It’s up to them what experience they take from class.

“Be satisfied with the effort you put in.”   I show up for my students 100% every day. I tell my students that it’s up to them  how much effort they want to exert in class. If they are satisfied with exerting 50% and earning a B then great. They take ownership of their decisions. The teacher can only push them so far and the rest is on them . No one wants to look back on their life and think “Things could have been different if…. ”

Yoga has become a huge benefit in my life. It has helped me find balance. It has helped my focus in work and interactions and has helped me see things through different points of views. It’s crazy how breathing and stretching and exerting energy can have such a positive impact. I highly recommend yoga for any teacher. Since practicing, I have seen a positive change in myself and in my classroom.

I usually don’t write posts like this, but I am feeling inspired and wanted to blog. 🙂

Tonight, we held the first ever #ElonEd twitter chat (my alma mater Elon University). I was first introduced to the educational use of twitter three years ago by Dr. Jeffery Carpenter. In my class (I think Teaching Diverse Learners? ) we were required to tweet a certain amount per week, tweet at others a certain amount, and participate in twitter chats.

Tonight, we held the first ever #ElonEd twitter chat (my alma mater Elon University). I was first introduced to the educational use of twitter three years ago by Dr. Jeffery Carpenter. In my class (I think Teaching Diverse Learners? ) we were required to tweet a certain amount per week, tweet at others a certain amount, and participate in twitter chats.

At this point in my education, I didn’t have too much to say. I only wanted to interact with my peers when I was on my “educational twitter” and didn’t really explore the magic of a hashtag. Throughout my education at Elon, we continued t0 use Twitter for educational purposes. My “required” class tweets started to become easier and I started to use twitter because I wanted to. It was a REAL resource for me to use daily. When it came to applying for jobs, I even put my twitter handle on my resume. My twitter became part of who I am as a teacher. #MTBoS became my daily hashtag and I identified with strangers who became trusted friends in my profession. I’m even speaking at and attending Twitter Math Camp!

Anyhow, tonight was the first #ElonEd chat. Our focus was on Your First Year in the Classroom. I volunteered “as tribute” to co-moderate the chat with Dr. Scott Morrison. I had never moderated a chat before so I was feeling nervous/excited/anxious waiting for it to start. I had two experiences from participating in this chat

Moderator

Being a twitter chat moderator is A LOT of work. I applaud all of you. We had around 15 people participate in our first chat. I wanted to respond and retweet and favorite everyone’s tweets! Usually, when I participate in a twitter chat, I don’t get to interact or see everyone’s conversations. This time, I saw EVERYTHING. Even if I was unable to add input, I read everyone’s tweets. It was a great feeling seeing conversations spark from a single question.

Elon Alum

This chat was special to me because I was interacting with past/present/future Elon Alum. The people I was chatting with had the same collegiate upbringing in the world of teaching. No one has the same college experience, but it was cool knowing that we all learned how to be teachers in Mooney. It was also great being able to relate to other teachers and give advice to pre-service teachers and receive advice!

I’ve been parts of twitter chats before, but this one was special. We also had some non-Elon students join which added a different layer to the chat. Honestly, I am looking forward to the next chat.  If you are interested in checking out our next #ElonEd chat join us on 3/8/16 at 9:40 PM. Topic: Technology in the Classroom.

Also check out our last chat on Storify !

As I lay in bed (way past my bedtime) writing this blog post, I’m feeling rejuvenated and ready for a day of teaching tomorrow. For this, I am extremely thankful for Twitter . Twitter allows me to vent, learn, explore, collaborate, and interact. Twitter connects people who have common interests. It gives teachers a way to grow personally and professionally daily.  If you are just starting out on twitter don’t give up on it. It takes a while to build a community, but once you do it can be magical. Tonight, I am thankful for Twitter, #MTBoS and #ElonEd. I am thankful to be a teacher. And I am thankful for being introduced to twitter as an inspired 20-year old motivated to be an amazing teacher.

To sum up this post, I love Twitter… it’s awesome. If you are teacher… USE IT!  On that note, I am heading to bed. Almost midnight on a school night!!!

Thursday, January 14th

5:00 Alarm goes off

5:05: Check Instagram, snapchat, and facebook

5:15-5:30: Throw on sweats for yoga and pack my school bag

5:30: Off to Yoga

6:00- 7:00: Hot Yoga. Namaste 🙂

7:00-7:20: Getting kinda pretty

7:20: Off to School

7:35: School! Eat my breakfast and drink some coffee while I read through my daily Skimm and Charlotte Agenda emails.

8:05: Meet with my advisory and read the daily blog.

8:20-9:15: A-Block Geometry. Today in class we reviewed for a quiz tomorrow. I created Scavenger Hunt Stations  to practice identifying special quadrilaterals, and finding interior and exterior angles of polygons.  These are the station cards and worksheet that went along with the activity!

9:20-11:10: Planning! I have both of my plannings in the morning. During this time I finished planning for my algebra 1 class and printed quizzes for the next day. I also have a Delta Math assignment due tomorrow, so I had about 6 students coming in and out asking questions (they had drop) during the last 30 minutes of planning.

11:15-12:00: LUNCH!!! Woohooo! The math department shares an office, so we all ate lunch together 🙂

12:05-1:00: Geometry

1:05-2:00: Geometry

2:05-3:00: Algebra 1- We are currently working on scatter plots. Today I introduced coefficient correlations and we played Guess the Correlation all together! I also through together a few other examples not from that site. My students then worked through a Linear Regression Demos Activity about Gray Wolves. My students loved giving the math context. When they all finished, we discuss the activity. I then had them play an AWESOME scatter plot polygraph. Fun class!

3:00-3:30 – Helped students.

3:30-4:30- Teacher yoga! I usually don’t do yoga twice in one day, but I was just feeling it today.

4:30-5:15- Finished up some work to prepare for tomorrow.

5:45- Home for the night!

6:00 Made some perogies for dinner (healthy I know) and put on some Parenthood!

Now I am still watching Parenthood while writing this blog post, and I will probably be heading to sleep soon!

This is part of the Explore MTBoS Blogging Initiative. Please join in!)